Nigeria sells about $1 billion of bonds as yields lure investors

Nigeria raised 1.5 trillion naira ($996 million) in a bond auction as the yield offered by the government helped lure investors.

The Debt Management Office received a record 1.9 trillion naira of bids for the two securities on sale, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. The West African nation sold the debt to yield as much as 19%.

Nigeria is offering securities at attractive yields to raise funds for the government and mop up excess naira liquidity in a bid to tame an inflation rate that’s near a 30-year high. It’s also helping President Bola Tinubu’s government attract overseas investors to the nation that is facing a dollar shortage.

“The relatively large amount of offer was based on the federal government’s financing need,” the Debt Management Office said in the statement. It’s also an “opportunity to attract foreign investors.”

The government sold a 7-year security at a yield of 18.5% compared with 15% in January, while the 10-year bond was was auctioned at 19% as against 16% of a similar debt a month ago, the agency said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria this month offered interest rate on its short-term debt obligation above the benchmark interest rate of 18.75% to attract investors, a move that signals the normalization of interest rates ahead of its meeting next week.

The regulator has relaxed currency controls and introduced a series of other measures since June to reform the foreign-exchange market and ease a dollar scarcity, which has contributed to plunge the local unit by about 70% since the past year.